Chapter 12 Someone Needs To
Someone Needs To
Pharis
There wasn’t enough busywork in the world to keep my mind off of Raewyn and the fact that she was here under my roof.
Every minute of every day.
Close enough to touch, if I were to let myself.
Which I wouldn’t.
After the close call we’d had in my chambers, I started living like a recluse, avoiding areas of my home where I might encounter her.
Whenever it couldn’t be avoided and we passed in the halls, she looked at me with a knowing expression.
It made me feel exposed, naked.
And that wasn’t a good way to feel where Raewyn was concerned.
A few days after finding her in my room, I had no choice but to see her again—not if I was going to actually utilize her glamour gift to stay ahead of the rapidly crumbling leadership situation in the kingdom.
During the days I’d been away from home, I’d traveled to different regions, cloaking myself in shadows as I observed private conversations about—and some outright planning of—mutiny against the Crown.
Apparently many of the lords who’d been unhappy under my father’s tyrannical rule had decided they’d rather not submit to his far less terrifying son and heir, Stellon.
They saw my brother as soft, vulnerable. But none of them was powerful enough to challenge the King’s vast military resources on his own.
They hadn’t formed a coalition against him yet, but I feared it was coming.
Which was why my castle would be seeing a steady stream of visitors, starting today. I’d summoned each of them secretly, hoping to dissuade them from embarking on civil war.
Though Stellon was all wrong for Raewyn, he was the rightful King of Avrandar and would make a good one, if given the chance. I certainly didn’t want him to be assassinated or killed in battle.
And infighting among the Elven lords would only make the kingdom a more dangerous place than it already was.
The problem was, I wasn’t sure which of them I could persuade, if any. And in the case that they refused to listen to reason, I needed to know what scared them most.
Knowledge was power, and Raewyn could give me the kind of knowledge that just might keep the kingdom from ripping apart and devolving into chaos.
“You sent for me?”
I turned to see her standing just inside the library doors.
Flattening my expression, I steeled my voice.
“Yes. It’s time to use your glamour gift and earn your keep.”
“You mean earn my freedom,” she corrected.
I chose to ignore that and went on.
“I’ll be receiving a visitor soon. He’ll come in and speak with me here on the first level of the library.”
Pointing to the second-story balcony, I said, “You’ll be up there, out of sight. I want you to read his fears. The distance shouldn’t be too great—you did it repeatedly in training with the staff.”
“And this helps you how?” she asked.
“That is my concern. Yours is to do what’s asked of you… without questions.”
She gave me a simpering smile and dipped in a low curtsy.
“Yes, My Prince,” she said sarcastically. “Why do I have to hide?”
“So the King won’t find out you’re alive. So you’ll stay safe,” I said.
So my brother won’t find out I have you here and launch a full assault on my castle to get you back.
That explanation I kept to myself.
“And is it safe for him to know you’re alive?” Raewyn asked. “Aren’t you afraid your visitor will tell someone, and the King will find out about you?”
“Awwww, love, I didn’t know you cared,” I drawled, and she frowned.
“Don’t worry about that,” I said.
I wasn’t worried. It was doubtful any of my guests would openly discuss their treasonous leanings outside of this house or their own.
And I’d be making sure none of them discussed seeing me alive.
“I do worry,” she said. “If the King finds out we’re alive, he’ll want to kill us both.”
No, just one of us, I thought to myself. Of course Raewyn still believed my father was on the throne.
“I’ll compel Lord Sillery to keep his mouth shut. And I’ll give him a vision of what’ll happen to him if he doesn’t. He won’t talk,” I assured Raewyn.
“How many glamours do you have now?” she asked.
I gave her a cheeky grin and used a deliberately lewd tone. “We’ll discuss my many talents later. Now scoot on up the stairs. He’s almost here.”
She turned to obey, and I couldn’t resist adding, “Good girl.”
Raewyn shot me a glare over her shoulder but continued on to the spiraling library staircase and climbed to the second floor where she melted into the shadows.
My butler Glave rapped on the library door before announcing the visitor.
“Lord Mallen Sillery of Nordaris, My Prince.”
A distinguished middle-aged man, Lord Sillery wore his region’s colors of Dark Green and Brown. His pale, curling hair was cropped short, and he wore a purple flower of some sort tucked into his top buttonhole.
He stepped into the library and bowed. “Prince Pharis. My esteem shines upon you.”
“Welcome to Stormcrest. Thank you for coming. Please come in and have a seat.”
I gestured to the comfortable reading chairs in the center of the room, and Lord Sillery took one of them while I took the chair opposite his.
“I must say it is a relief to see you alive and well,” he said. “There are many who would rejoice at knowing King Pontus’ other son still lives.”
“Many thanks. If you have no objections, I’d like to converse mind-to-mind. Just so that there are no… misunderstandings,” I said.
And so that Raewyn wouldn’t overhear anything else that might clue her in that my father was dead and my brother was now King. That had been a close one.
If she did find out, my excuse of keeping her here far from the King’s reach for her own safety would no longer hold water.
Also, she’d be furious with me for withholding information again, something she despised.
Lord Sillery of course assumed I was ensuring he couldn’t lie to me, and admittedly that was a fringe benefit. He seemed nervous but nodded agreement.
What’s this about, Your Highness? he asked.
I hear there’s some discussion of dissent against the Crown, particularly from your region.
“Oh I would never dream of committing treason,” he said aloud.
“Mind to mind,” I reminded him. “You can be honest with me.”
Silently, I added, As you might ascertain from my absence in the royal city and my lack of contact with my brother, I am open-minded about the issue. And I already know you’ve been discussing it with your advisors, so don’t try to deny it.
The man sucked in an audible breath, his eyes flaring. No doubt he was wondering which of his advisors had a loose tongue, never suspecting I’d heard it with my own ears.
And then he began telling the truth.
King Pontus put down the threat of human rebellion, but humans are far from the only threat to Elven interests in the Sixlands, he said. As you know, my region is bordered by the Silvery Mountains, and since your father’s death, the Dwarves have been venturing farther and farther into our lands.
And why is that a problem? I asked him. Are they trampling your petunia beds?
I’m serious, Your Highness. They’re hunting in our territory.
They’re scaring our women and children with their ferocity and ghastly appearance.
It begins with small things, and before you know it, they’ll take over the land, your mother’s home region.
Your father kept them in their place, but they do not fear retribution from your brother.
I still didn’t see the problem, but I nodded and gestured for him to continue.
Lord Solan reports the same thing is happening in the woodlands of Sundaris where the Dryads are becoming bolder. In the coastal lands, there are reports of Merfolk and Selkies coming ashore.
I see. And so you plan to take over and rule Avrandar yourself… to restore order? I asked.
Oh, not me, Your Highness, he answered immediately. But someone needs to.
He moved to the edge of his chair and leaned in. If it was widely known that you survived the arena disaster, I guarantee you’d have a large contingent of regional leaders who’d support your ascension to the throne.
I’m not the rightful heir, I argued.
And nothing in me was interested in attempting to rule this lot of spoiled, discontented bigots. I’d joked with Raewyn about forming my own kingdom, but the idea of actually doing it—or stealing my brother’s crown—was repellant.
We need a strong King. I am not the only one who thinks so, Lord Sillery said, appearing to grow more excited about the prospect.
There are rumors you hold more than one glamour, he said. And you have always been more ruthless than Stellon. That’s what we need.
What you need is to stop speaking treason against the King, I told him, annoyed.
It isn’t treasonous if it’s best for the kingdom, Lord Sillery argued.
All it took was for word of King Pontus’ untimely demise to spread, and order began to disintegrate.
Power is already slipping from Elven hands.
If we do nothing to stop it, the other Fae could join forces and overtake Elven rule altogether.
You are the answer to our prayers, My Prince.
No, I’m not, I said gruffly.
I was ready for this conversation to end. I had no interest in leading the kingdom and never had.
Frankly, I’d sympathized with the other Fae races in the past for the things they’d endured under my father’s rule. The territories Lord Sillery had mentioned were large enough to support the needs of all of us without Elven domination.
I stood to indicate the meeting was over. Hopefully it had been long enough to give Raewyn a chance to read Lord Sillery’s greatest fear.
It seemed highly likely I’d have to play on it at some point to keep the man in line.
When you leave here, you will not mention having been here or having any knowledge whatsoever of me and my household, I told him, using my Compelling glamour at its highest level of power.
Of course, Your Highness, he said. Will you act to save us? Will you take the Coral Throne?
“Bretton,” I called the footman, and he opened the library door. “Please show Lord Sillery out.”
“May the Grand Star brighten your way,” I said to the man, already turning away to go to the sideboard for a drink.
“And may it ever warm you,” the faithless lord responded.
When he’d left the room and the door was closed again, I spoke to Raewyn.
“You can come out now.”
She descended the stairs. “How did it go? What did he want?”
“The immense pleasure of my charming company of course,” I said. “Were you able to read him?”
She nodded. “His fears were pretty loud.”
“And?”
“And I don’t like him at all,” she said. “He’s terrified of anyone who’s not exactly like him. Is he really a lord? Because he seems so weak—inside I mean. He’s positively bursting with paranoia.”
I chuckled at her astute summation of the man and her disdain for his bigotry.
“And the greatest of his fears?”
“Losing his privilege and power,” she said. “He does love ‘lording’ it over everyone.”
“That’s what I hear,” I said. “Aren’t you glad to be in my castle rather than his?”
“I’d rather not be in a castle,” she said. “I’d rather be with my family. Hopefully helping you with your meeting today puts me one step closer. How many more are there?”
A frisson of annoyance ran down my spine, and I stretched my neck to one side then the other, trying to dispel it.
“A few. The next is three days from now. Lady Glenna of House Lalor.”
“Her name sounds familiar.” Raewyn said. “Wait… wasn’t that the woman Stellon was supposed to marry instead of marrying me?”
I gave her a bitter smile. “One and the same.”
If only he had. None of us would be in this mess.
Lord Degan Lalor had been incensed when my brother canceled the engagement. As I’d seen during my surreptitious visit to their hearth in Windros, that anger had festered since then.
He and his household were on the verge of fomenting rebellion against Stellon, and unlike Lord Sillery, he did fancy himself a suitable replacement on the throne.
A message had arrived by Swift bird this morning to tell me Lord Lalor had been thrown from a horse and was still recovering, so his daughter would be traveling to meet with me instead.
Hopefully when she got here I could either settle her ruffled feathers or compel her to forget all about her damaged ego and convince her father to let bygones be bygones.
“She controls a region?” Raewyn asked. “I didn’t know women held such power in the Elven world.”
“They don’t, generally. She’s coming on behalf of her father, Degan Lalor, Lord of Windros,” I explained.
“Why is she coming in his stead?”
A simple enough question. I wasn’t sure why, but instead of just answering it, I decided to provoke Raewyn instead.
“Perhaps Lady Glenna wants to see me,” I said. “Hard as it may be to believe, there are a rare few women who are more interested in my company than my brother’s… even if they are his sloppy seconds.”
I spun on my heel to leave the room.
“I’ll see you in three days.”